BALTIMORE (MD)
WBFF - Fox 45 [Baltimore MD]
May 7, 2023
By Sinéad Hawkins
National known civil rights attorney Ben Crump and renowned attorney Adam P. Slater are planning to file a lawsuit on behalf of Archdiocese sexual abuse survivors.
The attorneys will hold a press conference to announce the lawsuit on Tuesday, May 9, with survivors of childhood sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy, seminarians, deacons, and employees of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Attorney Crump and Attorney Slater will also launch a petition calling for the passage of legislation that would remove the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse across the nation.
This news comes after Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown released a redacted report on child sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore in April, detailing abuse within the church based on documents dating back to the 1940s.
In March, a Baltimore judge approved the release of the Maryland Attorney General’s investigation into the history of sex abuse in the Baltimore Archdiocese.
In an order signed by Circuit Court Judge Robert Taylor, the Office of the Attorney General had to make a series of edits to the report concerning 60 people and redact identifying information about other 37 people.
After those changes were made, the report was released to the public, according to the order.
As detailed in the Maryland complaints to be filed, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore was aware of – and failed to take action to prevent – rampant sexual abuse perpetrated against children by the leadership of the Catholic Church. This includes not just clergy, priests, and other church officials, but youth group volunteers, counselors, teachers, coaches, employees, and other figures of authority.
The Maryland Child Victims Act was signed into law on April 11, 2023. The law allows survivors to file retroactive lawsuits even if their claims have already expired under an existing statute of limitations. The law also eliminates the statute of limitations for all future lawsuits based on childhood sexual abuse claims.